February 20, 2011. Thirty years ago, James Kinn with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and Elliot Postow with Naval Medical R&D Command compiled a list of 3627 publications on the biological effects of electromagnetic radiation from 1 to 100 GHz. This 574 page document has been scanned and converted into a searchable pdf document. The references in this document are listed by title and author.

A West Vancouver doctor says new compact fluorescent bulbs may have "devastating" health implications for people with autoimmune diseases and is urging the federal government to slow down its campaign to eliminate traditional incandescent bulbs.

Family physician Dr. Janis McCaffrey, who suffers from lupus, is concerned about the possible dangers of CFLs for people with lupus or other autoimmune diseases.

"Health Canada has issued a warning on its website saying persons with lupus or other autoimmune diseases and certain skin conditions might be sensitive to ultraviolet radiation from CFLs. It says persons who believe they are suffering symptoms associated with UV should consult their doctor," she said.

"But I have been unable to find out any further information to either quantify or qualify what they are saying."

Ultraviolet light can trigger flares of lupus, she said.

Because of this, those with the disease should be told just how much adverse radiation they can expect from CFLs.

"There is nothing on the labelling that says anything about health risks, and the government has not informed doctors that patients with lupus or autoimmune diseases should be told about the risks," she said.

"What is the good of an online warning if nothing is printed on packaging or said to doctors?

"There are over a million people in Canada who have autoimmune diseases, never mind the 100,000 to 150,000 with lupus," she said.

"I don't want my lupus to flare up because of these bulbs."

McCaffrey has contacted Health Canada in an attempt to access the research material that prompted the warning, but said Health Canada has been unable to answer her questions. "It's a terrifically erroneous statement to make if they can't back it up. If they are not sure, then do some testing," she said.

McCaffrey said lupus is a disease that expresses itself "variably in every patient," which makes it almost impossible to determine how much light would trigger it.

"I get that, but if they say, 'We don't know,' then why is the government enforcing the use of these bulbs with no alternative? What are we supposed to do, hide in the dark?"

Health Canada official Leslie Meerburg said the reason there are no warning labels on CFL packages is that the UV emissions of the bulbs are similar to those of a regular 60-watt incandescent bulb. She said a UV hazard assessment on the bulbs showed no significant risk of injury to eyes or skin when used at a distance of 30 centimetres for periods lasting less than three hours.

"Should there be reason for concern regarding safety with a CFL, Health Canada would investigate further, measuring the output of the device, and make specific recommendations to the manufacturer to correct any issues," said Meerburg.

McCaffrey said the potential consequences of the new light bulbs could be devastating.

"Do I have to see if I get sick and end up in hospital? I just about died the last time, of kidney failure."

Children and pregnant women should avoid using cell phones, cordless phones and other wireless devices.

This is according to a panel of influential scientists, which believes that much stricter safety measures are needed to protect people from being harmed by electromagnetic radiation from devices including cellphones, cellphone towers, powerlines and wireless internet.

The scientists met to consider all the evidence linking wireless devices to cancer, neurological diseases and infertility, and concluded that there was evidence of "serious disruptions to biological systems".

The panel's findings and recommendations have recently been published in the scientific journal, "Reviews on Environmental Health".

But Vodacom spokesperson Richard Boorman says there is no cause for alarm:

"There have been thousands of scientific studies into the effects of radio frequency on health. There is no evidence to convince experts that exposure below the guidelines set by International Commission on Non-Ionizing Radiation Protection (ICNIRP) carries any health risks, for adults or children."

But according to the Swedish Karolinska Institute, which took part in the panel: "Many researchers now believe the existing safety limits are inadequate to protect public health because they do not consider prolonged exposure to lower emission levels that are now widespread".

Panellist Professor Elihu increase in cancer and neuro-behavioural impairments, even though these wireless technologies are fairly new. This finding suggests that the exposures are already too high to protect people from health harm".

Professor Yuri Grigoriev, Chair of the Russian National Committee on Non-Ionizing Radiation Protection, said simply: "Pregnant women and children of all ages should avoid using cell and cordless phones given the health effects we are seeing already."

The panel recommends that government should greatly reduce the exposure limits for electromagnetic radiation. It also called for the establishment of an international registry to track the incidence and mortality rates for cancers and neurological and immune diseases over time.

It also proposes that the producers of new wireless technologies needed to prove that these are safe and that there should be compulsory testing of electromagnetic emissions levels before these were introduced.

Boorman agreed that there were "still some gaps in scientific knowledge, and more research is being carried out to fill these" and that the World Health Organisation set the priorities for global research

"However," added Boorman, "people who personally want to can take simple steps to reduce their exposure as a precaution by keeping the mobile device away from the head and body during use, by using an earpiece, using the loudspeaker function, placing the device on a surface when sending data files and texting instead of calling".

"I wake up tired every morning," said Julie Kieborz, who said she always considered herself a good sleeper. But for the past few weeks, she said she has been just miserable.

"I'll wake up at 3 in the morning. Just, wow, I'm awake," she said.

The Phoenix mother of four has been trying to figure out why she suddenly keeps waking up in the middle of the night every night.

Then, she spoke to a few neighbors who were experiencing the same thing.

"They didn't really describe it," Kieborz said.

It turns out that Salt River Project recently installed "smart" meters on some of the homes off Glendale and Seventh avenues. Kieborz and her neighbors are convinced the signal from the smart meter is waking them up.

"It's low power, low frequency, on (the) outside of the house for a fraction of a second in different intervals over a 24-hour period," he said. "It's difficult to make a connection to sleep patterns."

WEEP News

by: Martin Weatherall

As a Canadian independent foundation, WEEP acts as an umbrella organization and focuses on progressive initiatives that bring increased awareness, policy change, and entrepreneurial activity around the issues of safe Electro Magnetic emissions.

WEEP News is a service provided by WEEP to keep those interested in and affected by Wireless, Electric, & Electromagnetic Pollution, informed on a daily basis, of all the current issues and initiatives in the world today.